TY - JOUR
T1 - Galectins
T2 - Double-edged swords in the cross-roads of pregnancy complications and female reproductive tract inflammation and neoplasia
AU - Than, Nandor Gabor
AU - Romero, Roberto
AU - Balogh, Andrea
AU - Karpati, Eva
AU - Mastrolia, Salvatore Andrea
AU - Staretz-Chacham, Orna
AU - Hahn, Sinuhe
AU - Erez, Offer
AU - Papp, Zoltan
AU - Kim, Chong Jai
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 The Korean Society of Pathologists/The Korean Society for Cytopathology.
PY - 2015/1/1
Y1 - 2015/1/1
N2 - Galectins are an evolutionarily ancient and widely expressed family of lectins that have unique glycan-binding characteristics. They are pleiotropic regulators of key biological processes, such as cell growth, proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, signal transduction, and pre-mRNA splicing, as well as homo- and heterotypic cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix interactions. Galectins are also pivotal in immune responses since they regulate host-pathogen interactions, innate and adaptive immune responses, acute and chronic inflammation, and immune tolerance. Some galectins are also central to the regulation of angiogenesis, cell migration and invasion. Expression and functional data provide convincing evidence that, due to these functions, galectins play key roles in shared and unique pathways of normal embryonic and placental development as well as oncodevelopmental processes in tumorigenesis. Therefore, galectins may sometimes act as double-edged swords since they have beneficial but also harmful effects for the organism. Recent advances facilitate the use of galectins as biomarkers in obstetrical syndromes and in various malignancies, and their therapeutic applications are also under investigation. This review provides a general overview of galectins and a focused review of this lectin subfamily in the context of inflammation, infection and tumors of the female reproductive tract as well as in normal pregnancies and those complicated by the great obstetrical syndromes.
AB - Galectins are an evolutionarily ancient and widely expressed family of lectins that have unique glycan-binding characteristics. They are pleiotropic regulators of key biological processes, such as cell growth, proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, signal transduction, and pre-mRNA splicing, as well as homo- and heterotypic cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix interactions. Galectins are also pivotal in immune responses since they regulate host-pathogen interactions, innate and adaptive immune responses, acute and chronic inflammation, and immune tolerance. Some galectins are also central to the regulation of angiogenesis, cell migration and invasion. Expression and functional data provide convincing evidence that, due to these functions, galectins play key roles in shared and unique pathways of normal embryonic and placental development as well as oncodevelopmental processes in tumorigenesis. Therefore, galectins may sometimes act as double-edged swords since they have beneficial but also harmful effects for the organism. Recent advances facilitate the use of galectins as biomarkers in obstetrical syndromes and in various malignancies, and their therapeutic applications are also under investigation. This review provides a general overview of galectins and a focused review of this lectin subfamily in the context of inflammation, infection and tumors of the female reproductive tract as well as in normal pregnancies and those complicated by the great obstetrical syndromes.
KW - Alarmin
KW - Epigenomics
KW - Maternal-fetal interface
KW - Neoplasms
KW - Sex steroids
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84934277405&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.4132/jptm.2015.02.25
DO - 10.4132/jptm.2015.02.25
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:84934277405
SN - 2383-7837
VL - 49
SP - 181
EP - 208
JO - Journal of Pathology and Translational Medicine
JF - Journal of Pathology and Translational Medicine
IS - 3
ER -